After the sky was completely dark, in Xiping Village at the foot of Guanmen Mountain, an offensive and defensive battle with limited intensity broke out again.

The banks of the Qinglong River, which flows through the center of the village, are the areas of the exchange of fire - the retreating Guanmenshan detachment of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army organized a new defensive line on the east bank, and pursued and killed a squadron of the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Saijo Wing that entered the village, and under the personal command of its captain Takagi Shaosa, it also advanced to the west bank of the Qinglong River, apparently preparing to cross the river and attack.

In the mid-April season, the Qinglong River, which has not been thawing for a long time, is still in the strict sense of the dry period, and the river that flows slowly is said to be half a foot high. As far as the eye can see, from the north end of the village to the south end of the village, there are four small bridges distributed on the river surface about ten zhang wide, some are made of wood and some are made of stones, whenever the river thaws, these four small bridges are the only way for the villagers to go back and forth to the east and west sides of the village.

Wu Zijian, the commander of the Eighth Route Army, at this time, deployed the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion, which had just been transferred back to the village from the outer line, and the focus was deployed on the bridgeheads and left and right of the four small bridges - in the warm and cold weather at first, people would not easily wade into the underwater river unless they had to, and the Eighth Route Army that had just withdrawn from the defense line west of the village ran from the bridge to the opposite bank; The Japanese soldiers in suede shoes must have thought the same way.

Of course, once they encounter a strong resistance, the Japanese army will not stick to just passing through these small bridges, and the Qinglong River, which is only less than the depth of their necks, will become their inevitable choice for forced crossing. Therefore, the 8th Company of the 3rd Battalion and the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion, which had been stubbornly defending the defense line on the west side of the village just now, formed a defensive line along the long river bank on the basis of the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion guarding the bridge.

The two Makqin heavy machine guns, which were the first to be transferred across the river, were promptly placed on two special fortifications almost a few dozen meters away from the east bank of the river. There are a total of five such high-slope fortifications in the eastern part of Xiping Village, which are specially used to erect heavy machine guns and light machine guns. The five machine-gun fortifications had a relatively wide view in front of them, including some trees on both sides of the Qinglong River, so as to form a clear firing boundary.

In the whole afternoon's peripheral defensive battle, the two Makqin heavy machine guns of the Eighth Route Army can be said to have played a vital role, and now that the blocking battlefield has been transferred to the village, Wu Zijian still has high hopes for the heavy machine guns.

Liu Shu, the political commissar who had been waiting on the east bank of the Qinglong River for a long time, had not yet subsided with the bruises on his face, which made him look a little hideous at this time. As soon as Wu Zijian saw the political commissar of the detachment, he immediately proposed to let him lead the lightly and seriously wounded to move to the Guanmen Mountain Pass first; But the latter turned a deaf ear to this, and instead asked:

"Where are the 1st Battalion and the Cavalry Company now? Is there a danger of being bitten by devils? ”

The commander of the Eighth Route Army shook his head: "I don't know the specific situation, I estimate that Wang Shuanglong has already led the first battalion to retreat to the Lihuapu area according to the plan; The last news I received from the cavalry company in the afternoon was that the whole company was interspersed in the direction of Tongpu Road, preparing to continue to wait for an opportunity to attack the rear of the Japanese army. ”

"It's nonsense!" Liu Shu couldn't help but be furious when he heard this: "The cavalry company is tall and has a conspicuous target, how can it dare to intersperse in the direction of Tongpu Road?" Did they think the Japanese machine guns and artillery were not accurate enough? ”

Wu Zijian did not speak in the night, and he did not know the whereabouts of the cavalry company later. But for Xia Lianshan, he knew what was in his bones - this cavalry company commander with a simple and simple appearance, after going to the battlefield, he was actually a desperate San Lang style. In the last battle against the night attack in Hekou Village, at the most critical moment, it was Xia Lianshan who led the remnants of the cavalry company to attack the Japanese command position at the risk of death, which won valuable vitality for the defense of the Guanmen Mountain Pass. And since learning that his sister, brother-in-law, and the whole family were all killed by the Japanese army, his temper seems to have become more silent, but his hatred for the Japanese has also become stronger.

"Detachment leader, the devil is going to cross the river!"

A platoon commander of the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion, who was closest to Wu Zijian and Liu Shu, suddenly turned his head and shouted at them. The two hurriedly followed the sound to the opposite bank, only to see that under the faint moonlight, several Japanese soldiers appeared next to the bridge head on the opposite side of a stone bridge, and they bowed their waists and held the bayonet 38 rifles diagonally, and carefully stepped on the stone bridge - as expected by the commander of the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese soldiers were unwilling to let their suede shoes step into the low but cold river water, so they chose to break through from the bridge.

But the machine gun of the Eighth Route Army soon rang out - it was not the Maxim heavy machine gun on the high slope fortifications behind the river bank firing, but a Czech light machine gun mounted on the river bank.

After a beautiful short shot, a small group of Japanese soldiers who had just poured onto the stone bridge were immediately knocked down by two or three, and one of them was plunged into the river below the bridge. Almost at the same time, gunfire began to erupt near several other bridges, and the offensive and defensive battle between the two banks of the Qinglong River began.

Commanding an infantry squadron to advance to the west bank of the Qinglong River, Takagi Shaosa had previously received a clear indication from Wing Commander Saijo Daisa: after the troops occupied the village, if the Eighth Route Army completely escaped, the village would be sacked; If the Eighth Route Army continues to resist strongly in the village, it only needs to stabilize its own position and form a confrontation with the enemy.

Takagi Shaosa knew very well that the intention of the captain of the Saijo Wing was to first lead the team to chase down the new force of the Eighth Route Army that was attacking and harassing the imperial army outside the village in one fell swoop, and then return to Xiping Village after victory; Until then, his side must ensure that the troops are not driven out of the village by the Eighth Route Army. Therefore, in the current offensive and defensive battle, I only need to command the infantry squadron at hand and put on an attacking posture to the other side of the river, and there is no need to really force the crossing. Behind them, another infantry squadron that followed up occupied the defensive line to the west of the village, which had been abandoned by the Eighth Route Army, as its own backing.

The artillery squadron directly under the wing headquarters was transferred by the wing commander - in the plains to pursue and cover the kill, the 92 rifle guns with wheels were undoubtedly better at winning the field - the machine gun squadron directly under the brigade headquarters were all retained; When an attempt to penetrate several small bridges to the opposite bank was blocked, Takagi ordered all the heavy machine guns of the machine gun squadron to be pushed to the area of the river bank and fired at the opposite bank with full firepower. Mortars and grenadiers also began to strike at the depth of the opposing riverbank positions.

As a defensive side, the officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route also gradually tasted the intention of the Japanese army: when the attack on the bridge was slightly frustrated, the Japanese soldiers retreated, and did not go down to the river to carry out the action of forcibly crossing the whole line. The detachment commander Wu Zijian immediately judged that the Japanese army was currently aiming to consolidate the bridgehead; Across the river, he could see that the number of Japanese soldiers advancing to the shore was not large, not even more than the number of troops defending on his side.

This made Wu Zijian suddenly alert, he looked at Liu Shu beside him, and blurted out: "Political commissar, the devil doesn't want to feint head-on and then attack our wings in a roundabout way!" ”

Liu Shu was also taken aback, staring at the detachment leader's close face, speechless in a daze. However, Wu Zijian no longer paid attention to him, and ordered the messengers around him one after another, and immediately ordered Wei Xin, the commander of the second battalion of the left flank position, and Qi Biao, the deputy commander of the third battalion of the right flank position, to ask the two of them to personally lead people to strengthen the defense of the head and end of the village, and strictly prevent the Japanese army from quietly crossing the river from the upper and lower reaches of the Qinglong River, and then attacking Xiping Village in a roundabout way.

The reason why the Japanese troops on the other side of the river did not attack and did not advance, so that it looked like a feint, was not to attract the frontal attention of the Eighth Route Army and then sneak attack from both sides - the main force of the Saijo Wing did not quietly detour to the upper and lower reaches of the Qinglong River at this moment, but was under the command of the wing commander Saijo Daisa, all the way to pursue the first battalion of the Eighth Route Army's Xu Brigade Guanmenshan Detachment.

The defensive position placed by Wang Shuanglong, the commander of the first battalion, in those groves, only lasted about fifteen minutes before he ordered it to withdraw. The Japanese rushed with ferocity, and under the guidance of flares, rifle artillery, mortars, and grenadiers poured out, and even if there was a forest as shelter, the casualties would be quite heavy if they held on. Therefore, seeing that the 1st and 2nd companies on the left and right flanks were almost finished retreating, Wang Shuanglong withdrew the 3rd company that was responsible for blocking the front.

They all fought and retreated in the direction of Lihuapu, a village in the lower reaches of the Qinglong River.

As a result of the severe admonition he had just received from the Wencheng Brigade Headquarters, the Japanese Wing Commander Shigehei Saijo had already made up his mind to completely pursue and annihilate this large force of the Eighth Route Army in front. Judging from the local battles in the afternoon, although this large force of the Eighth Route Army was not equipped with heavy weapons, its combat quality was quite excellent, its rifle firepower was intensive, the number of light machine guns was small but the force was accurate, and the offensive and defensive transitions were also calm. It can be called a strong team.

However, at present, this strong army of the Chinese army, which was fighting and retreating, was very untimely exposed to the wilderness, and faced with the fierce pursuit of its own two infantry squadrons and one artillery squadron, unless they could quickly find hidden support, a one-sided slaughter was inevitable.

The extremely excited captain of the Saijo Wing shouted and ordered a full-speed pursuit, and must chase down the enemy troops - at this time, the most troublesome thing for his troops was the hazy and chaotic night, but fortunately, there were still a few flares to help the battle.

He asked the combat staff officers around him, and learned that if he continued to the south in this direction, except for a meandering Qinglong River along the way, it was basically an unsheltered plain terrain - God help me! Past actual combat has proved that once the Chinese army loses the cover of its geographical advantages, it will become mediocre and incompetent under the blow of the powerful firepower of the imperial army. Thinking about the days when he led the main force of the wing before, he was attacked from all sides by the Shina Army in the mountains and mountains of southwest Jin, and he was struggling, and he could finally raise his eyebrows tonight and be ashamed!

Just as Shigehei Saijo was commanding his troops to chase forward, a riot broke out on the right flank of the team, and soon after a report came: Cavalry units of the Shina Army suddenly appeared due west and launched a fierce attack on our right flank!

The captain of the Japanese army was first surprised, and then his face was happy: he was worried that the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army that raided his truck fleet in the afternoon had disappeared, but he didn't expect that the other party would take the initiative to send it to the door!